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Wednesday, 26 February 2014

Butlin's Skegness: Entertainment Review

You can read about our views on staying in the Butlin's Gold apartments in Skegness, but I felt that the entertainment on offer needed a post of its own. It was one of the biggest shocks of the holiday. My brother in law joked as to whether we had been to a knobbly knees contest. This view of Butlin's is one that I am sure many people still hold and couldn't be more out dated. The shows that we saw were fantastic. On our first day we watched Thomas and Friends. Big man openly admitted that he is too big for watching Thomas the Tank Engine on the TV but that the show was really good. He was also keen to have his picture with Thomas when the show finished.

Mike the Knight and Fireman Sam all captured the boys attention. It was busy and the boys sat at the front whilst my husband and I stood at the side as the seating was all taken most days. Strangely our Fireman Sam toys have been pulled out of the cupboards since we have returned! Here is a little peek of the show.

Even better than the daytime shows were the evening ones. I had not appreciated how popular these would be. I was keen for big man to see Dick v Dom as I was sure he would find them funny. The show started at 7.30 with doors opening at 6.45. My husband thought I was mad when I said we should get there for 6.45. Thankfully he went along with me as we only just got in! It was in Reds which is a nightclub venue and we ended up sitting on the dance floor. It was well worth it though and a highlight of the holiday.

The next night was Scooby Doo. I foolishly thought that this would have less appeal to people. As we walked to dinner I stopped to ask a Redcoat whether it would be busy. He smiled and pointed at the queue coming out of the Skyline Pavillion and said that some people had been queing since 4. The show started at 7.30. We managed to squeeze in but it was packed and we had to sit on the floor and couldn't see well. At the interval some people behind us were leaving as their children were tired. Unfortunately so were our younger two. My husband stayed with big man and they both enjoyed the show. There are a limited number of B line passes which you can purchase so that you can get into the shows early to secure a table. For a family this adds up and you still need to get there early. Unless Butlins put on extra shows, the only advice I can give is that you get there reasonably early in a hope to get a table as this will make the evening much more enjoyable.

When it comes to water parks I am quite picky. We are lucky have one a few minutes drive from our house so I use this as a comparison. Splash Waterworld didn't disappoint. There were a number of pools, rapids
and a variety of waterslides. We went at the end of the day so it wasn't too busy, although when everyone tried leaving at once there was a wait for changing rooms.

One of the best things about Butlins is that most of the things you do are included in the price of your break. Inside the Skyline Pavillion there are a couple of small fairground rides. Big man wasn't going to miss out on these and insisted on joining his younger brothers!

Outside is a bigger fairground. The only problem we had here was juggling the three children as it was often a 1:1 adult child ratio. Big man enjoyed some of the bigger rides just as much as Daddy!

There are two arcades in butlins and one holds a soft play area. The boys enjoyed an hour running around in here one afternoon when it was a bit chilly.

You can't visit Butlins without going to the beach, even in Februaury. On the entrance to the beach was some Giant sized models. The boys enjoyed playing hide and seek in the "Giants Playground."

Once on the beach, big man was happy with a stick to entertain him!

One of the hardest things about going to Butlin's is accepting that you can't do everything on offer. This is what we chose to do, considering the ages of our children, but there is so much more. Tribute bands, wrestling, Water wars for teenagers, use of the spa, the list goes on. Most of the activities are included but there are some with extra charges if you wish. Yesterday I found out that middle man was disappointed that we didn't make it to the Bob the Builder show. Today when the advert appeared on the TV, little man's face lit up and he said Butlin's. The boys are already asking to go back and I am already looking at day visits! So, if like me and a lot of my friends, you thought Butlin's was just cheesy shows and not much fun, maybe you should think again. In my opinion it is fantastic family fun.

We were guests of Butlin's for this 4 night break as part of the ambassador programme.

12 comments:

We love Butlins - we went a few years ago and can't wait to go back again - the boys loved it and i'd love to take Miss T (I was pregnant with her last time we went). There really is so much to do for all age groups! x

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